me an laiy at angkor wat temple
hello once again
i have just arived back from the most frightful experience of my life, it goes as follows:
me and laiy (one of the boys over here) went up to seam reap for the weekend (seam reap is where the angkor temples and land mines, of which both are famous, obviously for different reasons)
so i thought its only 300 klicks, around the corner ya know,
300 kays up here is very far, as it took us 6hrs and the bus, which was last serviced never, did just go around the corner, but, overtaking another more decrepit bus who was overtaking a truck full of rice, who was avoiding the potholes. while us meanwhile we blasting our hour to warn all the other drivers around the bend, that we were coming, and when another bus came the other way, we had to somehow go faster (which was impossible as we were in neutral most of the time as the driver couldnt "double shuffle") to avoid hitting the oncoming bus (and the occasional cows that frequent these roads) and not go off the edge of the road or we will be blown up by a land mine.
the return trip was same same but different, as i was wedged into my little window seat by a rather large cambodian lady, who, tho i tried in vain, to get her to swap seats with me, so atleast i could stick my legs out ont the isle, but this didnt work as i know no khmer and she knows no english, so it ended up with her thinking i was saying something funny so she just sat the and had a good laugh. but atleast if the bus somehow managed to have a stack, i would still be alive as i wasnt goin nowhere.
so we arived in seam reap, and got a joint to stay in, and watched some of the highlights of the test match and went to bed, wondering what else seam reap had in store for me.
we work up early next morning, all revved up with no moto to go. but lucky for me, i have a secret weapon that most of us posses, but many a folk never know how to use it, and that is skin, and some people call it over here skin tax, and that is where white people have to pay for everything, and Cambodian people dont, some people may think it being racist, but it has its perks.
as we were there wondering how to get out to the angkor temples, a moto came past, and saw me, and even thought they have passengers on board, they will chuck them off and put me on, to which i accept. now you may think this is bad, but im just helping out the ecconomy, yano, sowe took this moto out and we pay to get into the park (US$20 per person per day, khmer (Cambodian) people free, and we worked out they are getting atleast 1 mill a day just from entry fees) well any way this moto driver when he dropped us off wanted more money then we bargained beforehand (always bargin first) so i told him to jump in the moat.
the thing that annoys me, is even tho they are making a months wage in a bit over 1 day (cambodian standards) they want to winge and carry on like little kids to get a bit more, man i just want to head but some of them :)
so thats one of the disadvantages of being white, you are seen as a way of being profit, but then again the governmet is so corrupt that all money goes into their flash new cars seen cruzin the streets,
i think i better stop drinking the water, as they put whitening in it (as they do everything, they just want to be white, where ironically we want to be tanned)
on the matters of water, i can now clean my teeth with only one cup of water (down from two), i dont know if you wanted to know that, but i thought i would just put it in for the hell of it.
so back to angkor, it is massive, there are over 1000 temples all built by kings to outdo their predecesors.
one of the temples is situated in a lake that is 9x2.2 kms and averaging 7 metres deep with a temple in the middle the size of a back yard (quarter of an acre)
the most famous 'Angkor Wat' is a spectacular,
there was another few with stairs that have an incline of no less than 3:1 (3 high and 1 long) and it (the temple) is about 30 40ish metres high, and you are literally on your hands and feet scaling this vertical wall, and as we a puffing our way up, up pops this guide, and is runing straight up the vertical.
we had a huge day, saw a serious moto crash while having lunch, police came, and they gave them money, and they left (police have no income and resort to "fines" for their income)
after a big day of telling moto drivers to get lost, and getting caught in the jungle by creeper plants and jumping over land mines to get to certian temples, and avoiding to security, and going places you should not, we went home, taught laiy what cricket is and went to bed.
i was boiling hot up there so i had the aircon on in the room at night, at a comfortable 21 deg and there is laiy freezing inder all the blankets and sheets that he could find, an i had a bit of a laugh at this, as the coldest it gets over here is now, winter (for them) and its boiling, im here typing this, in the coolness of the fan, and im sweating like a pig, and today is supposed to be one of the coldest on record.
so after a good relaxing weekend at seam reap (away from our usual alarm clock is some delightful young kids bouncing marbles upstairs), i got home a bit cramped up from the bus trip back.
so now its is life as usual in phnom phen (capital) with the dogs that are next door, barking all night, we heard a few gunshots the other night, and havnt heard the dogs since, so thats good news.
the funny thing about the dogs over here is that they are unfamiliar with white man smell, and just today, one came near me as i was teaching at the lcdi school, and tried to take me leg off, but lucky i have a good set of bludstone boots one
and now as i only have one week left before i go back to oz, i will be leaving behind a country, that is relaxed, non tempered, not really sunburny, and friendly and horn loving maniacs (but hey thats cambodia) and a good bunch of mates and a lot of experiences with them that i wont ever forget.
so thats a choom reap lea (seeya later) from cambodia
and ill leave you with a few photos from my recent cambodia adventures
luv Ben
angkor temple
this was one hell of a steep temple, i cant imagine them hauling the brahman bulls up there for sacrifices
Comments